Introduction

This patch features mostly buffs to some of the least seen champions on the rift, including the long-forgotten Kalista. Meanwhile, Aurelion Sol is getting a number of tweaks that should make him considerably easier to pick up, but also slightly weaker for those that already know how to play him well and abuse his strengths.

Check out the full list of changes below!

Summary

Buffs: Galio, Kalista, Leona, Lucian, Neeko, Pantheon, Ryze, Zyra
Nerfs: Qiyana
Tweaks: Aurelion Sol, Kayle

Patch 9.17 notes

BY AETHER, SHIO SHOUJO

Hey buff herders!

We're still holding off on going too crazy with balance changes until after 9.19 (the patch that Worlds will be played on), but we do have some bigger adjustments to Aurelion Sol and Kayle this patch. Mainly, we're helping them in the respective spaces they're weak in and that make them difficult to be seen as viable or reliable picks. Overall, Aurelion Sol should now be more comprehensible with more satisfying signs of successful play and Kayle should have more of a laning phase without feeling like a complete wet noodle.

That's all folks!

Hanna “shio shoujo” Woo

Paul "Aether" Perscheid

Patch Highlights

Elderwood Ahri, Elderwood Veigar, Elderwood Nocturne, Infernal Shen, Infernal Galio, and Infernal Varus will be available on August 29, 2019

Champions

Aurelion Sol

Passive damage decreased; AP ratio now flat; stars are no longer disabled by CC. Q cooldown now scales; movement speed increased; star will keep up with Aurelion Sol. W now expands stars and rotates at a decaying speed; cooldown increased; cost no longer increases over time. E passive movement speed removed; range and cooldown increased; speed now scales.

We're making Aurelion Sol more vulnerable to counterplay in the early game so that we have room to buff his scaling and presence in the late game. His adjusted W should also help make him a more approachable champion to those new to him, with clearer indicators of success and more satisfying in-game payoff.

Passive - Center of the Universe

DAMAGE20/23/26/29/32/35/40/45/50/55/
60/70/80/90/100/110/120/130 ⇒16/18/20/22/24/27/30/35/40/45/50/
60/70/80/90/100/110/120

RATIO0.18-0.35 (levels 1-18) ability power ⇒ 0.25 ability power

REMOVEDNULLIFYING CCAbility-inhibiting crowd control no longer nullifies Center of the Universe

Q - Starsurge

COOLDOWN10 seconds ⇒ 11/10/9/8/7 seconds

MOVEMENT SPEED10% ⇒ 20%

NEWCATCH ME CATCH YOUIf Aurelion Sol is faster than his star, the star will speed up to keep up with him

W - Celestial Expansion

NEWLET IT RIPWhen Aurelion Sol pushes his stars out to the Outer Limit, they gain increased damage and rotate at a high, but decaying speed. After 3 seconds or if Aurelion Sol reactivates it early, the stars will retract and grant Aurelion Sol 40% movement speed, decaying over 1.5 seconds

COOLDOWN6/5.5/5/4.5/4 seconds ⇒ 8/6.5/5/3.5/2 seconds

MANA40 mana + 22/24/26/28/30 mana per second it's activated ⇒70/80/90/100/110 mana on cast

E - Comet of Legend

REMOVEDPASSIVEAurelion Sol no longer gains bonus movement speed when moving in the same direction for a period of time

RANGE3000/4000/5000/6000/7000 ⇒ 5500/6000/6500/7000/7500

COOLDOWN60/55/50/45/40 seconds ⇒ 80/75/70/65/60 seconds

SPEED600 ⇒ 600/650/700/750/800

Galio

Q cooldown decreased. W min and max damage increased.

Galio's been underperforming for the last few patches so we're helping him out to keep him competitive against other choices.

Base Stats

Rounding out an unnecessarily gross number

MANA REGEN9.335 ⇒ 9.5

Q - Winds of War

COOLDOWN14/13/12/11/10 seconds ⇒ 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 seconds

W - Shield of Durand

MINIMUM DAMAGE10/20/30/40/50 ⇒ 20/35/50/65/80

MAXIMUM DAMAGE30/60/90/120/150 ⇒ 60/105/150/195/240

Kalista

Base attack damage, mana, and mana growth increased.

Buffing Kalista in this specific way so she can succeed more in the hands of an average player and generally in a wider range of games.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE67 ⇒ 69

MANA231.8 ⇒ 250

MANA GROWTH35 ⇒ 45

Kayle

Passive bonuses adjusted for all four forms. Q now refunds mana; cast delay, missile speed, and range decreased; cast time updated; enemy shred decreased, but duration increased. E bonus damage decreased later, ratio increased; on-hit ratio updated. R cost now scales; radius increased.

We're shifting power into Kayle's early game at the cost of some of her late-game carry potential. Kayle should still be a weaker champion early who ascends into a god, but she (and her opponents) should now have more influence on whether or not she gets there.

Passive - Divine Ascent

FORM LEVEL ORDERKayle ascends to her || Aflame form at level 6 and Arisen form at level 11 ⇒ Arisen form at level 6 and Aflame form at level 11

ZEALOUS BONUS MOVEMENT SPEED15% when Exalted and moving toward enemies ⇒ 8% when Exalted in all directions

ZEALOUS STACK SOURCESBasic attacks against non-structures ⇒ All basic attacks

ARISEN ATTACK RANGE550 ⇒ 525

REMOVEDARISEN ATTACK SPEED PER STACKKayle's bonus attack speed from her Zealous form no longer increases to 10% bonus attack speed per stack when Kayle is in her Arisen form

REMOVEDTRANSCENDENT FIRE WAVE TRUE DAMAGEFire waves no longer deal true damage

NEWTRANSCENDENT ATTACK RANGEWhen Kayle is in her Transcendent form, she gains an additional 50 range for a total of 575 attack range on basic attacks

Q - Radiant Blast

NEWMANA REFUNDNow refunds 50% of the ability's mana for each champion hit with it

CAST DELAY0.5 seconds ⇒ 0.25 seconds

CAST TIMEAttack speed timer ⇒ 0.25 seconds

MISSILE SPEED2000 ⇒ 1600

RANGE950 ⇒ 900

RESISTANCES REDUCTION20% of the target's armor and magic resistance for 3 seconds ⇒ 15% of the target's armor and magic resistance for 4 seconds

BUGFIXFixed a bug where Radiant Blast wouldn't pierce as far if it hit its target at point-blank range

E - Starfire Spellblade

BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE8/10/12/14/16% (+1% per 100 ability power) of the target's missing health ⇒ 8/9/10/11/12% (+1% per 50 ability power) of the target's missing health

ON-HIT RATIO0.1 total attack damage and 0.2 ability power ⇒ 0.1 bonus attack damage and 0.25 ability power

R - Divine Judgment

COST100 mana ⇒ 100/50/0 mana

AOE RADIUS475 ⇒ 500

Leona

Q cooldown decreased.

We're letting Leona really lock into the engaging supports that she fares well against to keep her a good counter against those specific match-ups.

Q - Shield of Daybreak

COOLDOWN6 seconds ⇒ 5 seconds

Lucian

Base AD increased.

Giving Lucian a bit more power in the early laning phase to punish champs who have been able to run around freely without fear.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE61 ⇒ 64

Neeko

Neeko can now deactivate her passive without taking damage or casting another ability.

Giving Neeko a QoL change so she can return to her own form without having to expend a resource or take damage.

Passive - Inherent Glamour

NEWI'M BEAUTIFULWhen disguised, Neeko can select herself to deactivate her disguise, putting it on a 2 second cooldown

Pantheon

Q Thrusts now grant execute damage. E monster damage reduction removed.

Even after the removal and decrease of the monster damage reduction on his Q and E, respectively, jungle Pantheon is just not as strong as his other roles. We're following up by entirely removing the monster damage penalty on his E, since it appears we were being too cautious regarding his jungle prowess. This and the change to his Q Thrust shouldn't swing his balance too much, and only help those who are struggling with relearning him.

Q - Comet Spear

NEWTHRUST DAMAGEThrusting Pantheon's spear (releasing the ability within 0.35 seconds) now also increases the physical damage on targets below 25% of their maximum health (matching a fully hurled spear's bonus damage)

E - Aegis Assault

REMOVEDMONSTER DAMAGE REDUCTIONNo longer reduces damage against non-epic monsters

Qiyana

E base damage decreased. R cooldown flattened.

Qiyana's early trade damage makes her stronger than she should be in lane. That coupled with her near constant ults later is a bit too overbearing throughout the whole game.

E - Audacity

BASE DAMAGE70/105/140/175/210 ⇒ 60/95/130/165/200

R - Supreme Display of Talent

COOLDOWN120/100/80 seconds ⇒ 120 seconds at all ranks

Ryze

Base magic resist increased.

Now that Ryze has proven he can be useful without Overloading his enemies in competitive play, we think it's safe to give him a smidge more survivability.

Base Stats

MAGIC RESIST30 ⇒ 34

Zyra

R cost flattened; cooldown decreased.

We're giving Zyra more opportunities to burst down her enemies.

R - Stranglethorns

COST100/120/140 mana ⇒ 100 mana at all ranks

COOLDOWN130/120/110 seconds ⇒ 110/100/90 seconds

Free-to-Play Champion Rotation

In 2017, players asked us to expand the weekly free champion rotation beyond just 10 champions. As a result, we updated our model to include 10% of the total number of available champions to the rotation and increased the number to 14. With Qiyana, we're officially at 145 champions! As promised, we're officially increasing the number of champions to 15 in the next free-to-play rotation on the first week of September 2019.

Bugfixes

Soraka now properly heals herself with R - Wish for more when she is under 40% of her maximum health.
Certain champions' movement abilities are now properly disabled when they're Grounded (Zac's E - Elastic Slingshot, Malphite's R - Unstoppable Force, Camille's E - Hookshot, Graves' R - Collateral Damage, Thresh's W - Dark Passage, and Fiddlestick's R - Crowstorm)
Rek'Sai no longer gains a short "Can't Be Displaced" buff if her target dies as she starts R - Void Rush
Cleanse now properly clears the stun from Viktor's AUGMENT:IMPLOSION W - Gravity Field
Lee Sin's Q - Resonating Strike's dash speed is now at its proper speed (not as slow as it was in 9.16)
If Sylas dies immediately after casting Pantheon's R - Grand Starfall via R - Hijack, he will no longer be locked out of using items and basic abilities
Sivir's W - Ricochet now properly bounces when recast when she reaches 45% CDR by holding Spear of Shojin or Cosmic Insight
Statikk Shiv will no longer hit nearby targets outside of Mordekaiser's R - Realm of Deathwhen the holder attacks him within it
When Tahm Kench dies while using W - Devour on another unit, that unit's HP can now properly go below 1 HP